Small Cars, Big Stars

In the early Sixties, some of the world's best squeezed themselves into tiny Abarths

Feature Article from Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car

Karl Abarth was, by all indications, both an innovator and an individualist. Born in Austria, his family moved to Italy around 1918, where he won a slew of European motorcycle championships. He built his first car in 1928, and was so enamored of his adopted homeland that he began calling himself Carlo. Following World War II, he began producing small quantities of both road-going and race-modified versions of small-displacement Italian cars, usually based on Fiats. Since Scuderia Abarth also produced engine accessories and performance exhaust systems, Abarth rightly ranks among the very first of the great European tuners.

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It was in 1956, when the Fiat 600 debuted, that Abarth really found his stride. He took the tiny 600cc rear-engine two-door sedan and began enlarging its displacement, first to 750cc, then out to 850cc with the Turismo Competitzione variant, while also boosting the car's suspension and braking capabilities. In those years, small-displacement sports car racing was all the rage in Italy, mostly among enthusiasts who couldn't handle the cost of Ferraris and the like. With Abarth's cars steady winners among any number of drivers, Fiat quickly realized the publicity coup that was theirs to reap, and began supplying the shop with partially assembled cars to modify. A signature sight at Italian events was a brace of the snarling little coupes, slewing tail-happily about, their engine covers, sometimes fitted with scoops, propped open for better cooling.
The little Fiats' fame notwithstanding, another well-known and successful Abarth race car was again based on the Fiat 600, only this time fitted with svelte bodywork by Zagato. The Fiat engine was enlarged to 1,000cc, and an Abarth-designed twin-cam cylinder head was also available. Most of these cars were exclusively for racing, and a fair number made it to the United States, parts of semi-factory teams whose principals included Briggs Cunningham. In this country, Abarths were regulars in major races including the 12 hours of Sebring, as documented by longtime photojournalist Dave Friedman in his photos from the early '60s. Not only that, they had an inordinate number of racers who already were, or soon would be, world-famous in their drivers' seats.
"At first, they ran in a three-hour preliminary race, the day before the 12 Hours," Friedman reminisced. "In that race, they ran MGs, Alfas and all kinds of other stuff against the Abarths. I'll tell you, I loved those little cars; I liked the looks of them and they were little buzz bombs, really quick. And they won, too. I wanted to buy one for myself but, like most people, I couldn't fit in them. I'm only about 5 foot 9, but I have long legs and there was no room. If you managed to fit yourself in one, there wasn't enough room left over for a bag of groceries."

This article originally appeared in the November, 2005 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.